Social Awkwardness at its Best

"So what do you like to do?" This 7th grader had to go to the nurse for some reason. And rather than inquire about that, I asked about his personal life. 

"I like to draw." His tone said he didn't want to keep talking but I kept at it. 

"Nice. Do you want to do that for a living?" 

"No," he said. No explanation. 

"Why not?" 

"I dunno. I think I'd rather just do it as a hobby." 

That was triggering for me. So I assured him he could probably find a way to do it for a living. And I think that triggered him so he said, "I think if I drew for a living I wouldn't like it as much." 

"That's a good point," I said, noting his tone was truly done with this convo. If I had really been concerned about him and his feelings, this would've been a perfect place to stop talking. But now I needed to understand his attitude and explore why this was making me uncomfortable. "Well what do you want to do for a career?" I did my best to hide a condescending tone of: wow way to give up on your dreams.

"I want to be an engineer." 

"Oh that's really cool," I lied. "Engineering is a really cool blend of drawing and architecture..." 

He grunted in agreement. It was all he had left, poor guy.

I coughed awkwardly and hit him with a "You got this." 

And he said, "Thanks" like I didn't really need or ask for the encouragement or this conversation. By that point we were at the nurse's office, and I dropped him off with her. 

I can only hope I learned from this. That poor kid will probably be dodging me in the hallways every chance he gets.